Phoebe Vet:
A large part of the cost of transportation systems is the cost of selling, the fare evidence, verifying and enforcing the payment of the fare, collecting, protecting, and accounting for the collected fares, etc. I often wonder what the difference in cost per rider would be if a tax on city parking spaces was implimented and used to fund a totally free extensive mass transit system.
Out here in San Francisco, we have spare the air days,when transit is free for a day. Yes, we get about ten percent more riders but we encountered another problem. Since the system is free, lots of troublemakers ride - people who harass the rest of the riders, snatch purses, panhandle, sell candy, etc. And they tend to do things that delay the trains, like block the doors, ride on the roof, or between cars (on the outside, walking between cars inside is allowed), or hang on the grab irons and ride outside or on the rear. So, now we open it up until Noon, or so, then it is a pay system.
About half our expenses are covered by fares, the other half is from sales tax (3/4 %) and property tax (like $50 per house). 10 percent comes from ads and renting the right of way (to communications companies, for cables and fiber optic).
Half our stations are suburban (BART is a combination subway and commuter railroad) and most fill up by 8 AM. As a result, the huge capital investment is lightly used from 8 to Noon. There are lots of park and ride spaces within a couple of miles of many stations, but here's the challenge. If you drive to a lot at 9 AM and park you can get a bus to the train station. But, when your 10 to 6 job ends, and you get back to your station at 7 or 8 (or 10 if you go out after work) the buses are no longer running. We need a method of getting to those lots after 6 PM.
One method is to have a shuttle make the rounds of all the lots near a particular station. Generally, a trip that covers half a dozen lots, each within 2 miles of the station, would take about 20 minutes. So, one shuttle could meet every other train (15 minute schedule). Cost is not a big deal, as long as it was around 2 or 3 bucks.
Another option are the cabs. I've been in cities where I had something I had to carry 2 blocks, so I took a cab. 4 bucks - 2 for the flag drop, and about a buck a block. So I gave the cabbie six bucks. He spent more time writing down his trip than actually doing it! The cabbies at the suburban stations are looking for the 25 buck trips (10 miles), but if they had a steady stream of 5 buck vouchers, going to the lots, they would be happy. With pretax dollars and subsidies, these vouchers would cost the rider about 2 bucks, and the cabby would have a few dozen at the end of the night - well worth his while. We already have "work late" vouchers (I think one is limited to five a year), so the system is in place. Most of us have no great aversion to short bus rides - flying into an airport usually involves either a shuttle to the hotel, or a shuttle to the rental car lot. What most people want to avoid is an hour-long bus ride, when they could be on a train, doing something semi productive or entertaining.
For BART, low cost satellite lots would give us a 20 percent ridership boost.
Fundamentally, we are an automotive society. There is a minimum level of education that parents want for their kids and they are going to move far enough out to get that level. That means commuting involves a short car trip, for most suburban riders. If you are in the transit business, you are in the parking business.